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07 Nov 2006, 10:38

Hi,

I used to be a frequent contributor on this forum while studying for my GMAT a year or so ago. Good to see that itâ€™s still very active and resourceful.

Well, I've decided to apply to schools for Fall '07 (2nd round). I have a finance background and hope to land an Associate position at a top Investment bank post-grad. I'm still deciding on which schools to apply and that's where I could use some help. So far on my (filtered) list are:

I'd like to narrow it to 5 schools. I realize that a lot of applicant-specific variables exist in determining the best schools, but from an I.Banking and diversification (good mix between ultra elites and elites) perspective, can you guys enlighten me with your thoughts?

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07 Nov 2006, 12:04

yb wrote:

Hi,

I used to be a frequent contributor on this forum while studying for my GMAT a year or so ago. Good to see that it’s still very active and resourceful.

Well, I've decided to apply to schools for Fall '07 (2nd round). I have a finance background and hope to land an Associate position at a top Investment bank post-grad. I'm still deciding on which schools to apply and that's where I could use some help. So far on my (filtered) list are:

I'd like to narrow it to 5 schools. I realize that a lot of applicant-specific variables exist in determining the best schools, but from an I.Banking and diversification (good mix between ultra elites and elites) perspective, can you guys enlighten me with your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Funny, but I heard that it's actually easier to get into IB from Kellogg than from GSB. Consider: same city, so most of the recruiters who come on campus in GSB, also drop in to K. But in K, I believe, the competition betwenn IB wannabe's is not as harsh as in GSB. What do you think?

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07 Nov 2006, 12:28

That's an interesting theory Helg. I wonder how it plays out in practice.

I would list them in the following order:

1. Wharton
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. Chicago
6. NYU

I simply think that Harvard and Stanford students have better access to all jobs than people from most other schools. Wharton can stand up to them in finance/IB. I view Columbia and Chicago as neck and neck in terms of reputation for IB jobs, but Columbia has better location. IB is probably the only area where NYU can hang with these schools, but their location and connections to Wall Street put them ahead of schools not on this list (in my view). Of course, if you want to work outside of NY, NYU will not be as strong with placements as most of the other elites.

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07 Nov 2006, 15:05

Thanks for your thoughts. Helg, that is an interesting way to look at it and it does make sense. I'm going to look into this further and let you know what I find out.

Pelihu - would you agree that part of the reason that NYU sends such a large volume to IB firms has to do with the fact that its class is significantly larger than that of other elites. i.e. Cornell, Yale?

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07 Nov 2006, 17:38

yb wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts. Helg, that is an interesting way to look at it and it does make sense. I'm going to look into this further and let you know what I find out.

Pelihu - would you agree that part of the reason that NYU sends such a large volume to IB firms has to do with the fact that its class is significantly larger than that of other elites. i.e. Cornell, Yale?

Actually I believe that NYU sends to many to IB firms (compare to Yale & Cornell) because people know going in that it is their strength. For example, if I'm admitted to all 3 and I want to do IB, then I'm definitely going to NYU. If I want to do non-profit, then I'm definitely going to Yale.

The corollary is that once you are at NYU, your ability to land an IB job far exceed your chances to land jobs in other sectors. For example, if I'm at NYU and I don't know exactly what I want to do after graduating, the easiest path to a good-paying job is IB, because the schools is so connected with the industry.

So, going in people that choose NYU are more likely to be predisposed to IB, and once there people have the best opportunities in IB. And of course, recruiters also know that the students there are predisposed to IB, so the cycle perpetuates itself.

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07 Nov 2006, 18:17

Helg presents an interesting argument, but then again couldn't we say the same about Harvard and MIT Sloan? I suppose there is less IB competition at MIT relative to HBS, but I would be be reluctant to choose MIT over HBS based on this.

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07 Nov 2006, 23:00

Hjort wrote:

Helg presents an interesting argument, but then again couldn't we say the same about Harvard and MIT Sloan? I suppose there is less IB competition at MIT relative to HBS, but I would be be reluctant to choose MIT over HBS based on this.

As Pelihu said, HBS grads have better access to any job, just due to the reputation of HBS. The brand is just so grand that it stands way above any comparison (especially out of US).